The Power and NICOLE PERLROTH oforgivenessfeeds.pressdemocrat.com/pdf/PD01A021515_120000.pdf ·...
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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015 WWW.PRESSDEMOCRAT.COM SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA SANTA ROSA High 77, Low 43 THE WEATHER, B14 Business E1 Classified E5 Cohn C1 Crossword E9 Forum T5 Lotto A2 Movies D4 Obituaries B4 Smith B3 State B10 Travel D5 TV E10 DEADLY DAY IN COPENHAGEN: A shooting at a free speech event and another at a synagogue leaves two dead and five police wounded / A8 ©2015 The Press Democrat CLOVERDALE HOMECOMING This weekend’s 123-year-old Citrus Fair offers chance for visitors to reconnect with family, friends Empire Sunday NEW ON-DEMAND RIDE IN TOWN Petaluma limo service app competes with Uber, Lyft Business THE P OWER O F F ORGIVENESS Photos by BETH SCHLANKER / The Press Democrat LIKE FAMILY: Chris Loukas, left, and Steve Backman met recently in Santa Rosa to remember what they call “the incident” that brought them together: the Jan. 28, 1995, crash in which Backman was driving drunk and Loukas was left fighting for his life. Loukas’ compassion after the accident helped Backman gain sobriety and change his life. T he two men gathered for a potluck with their families and friends in a Bennett Valley townhome club- house festooned with balloons and ribbons and once again shared the extraordinary story of how they met, two drivers whose cars and lives collided on a rainy night 20 years ago in almost predestined fashion. The subdued festivity a week ago — the New Age music, a couple of playful toddlers running around under their mom’s watchful gaze, and through the windows a green land- scape with splashes of dappled sunlight between rain showers — belied the dark, terrible circumstances that brought Steve Backman and Chris Loukas together. Backman, 39 at the time, was a bar-hopping, habitual drunken driver, an unemployed construction worker who saw little reason to live. Loukas, then 64 years old, was the owner of a Sebastopol crystal shop, the embodiment of west county sensibilities — a healer who does “energy balancing” for people and is an ordained minister in the Uni- versal Church of the Master. The near-fatal crash on High- way 116 near Cotati on Jan. 28, 1995, what the two men would refer to as “the incident … because there are no accidents in life,” forged an unlikely bond between them, becoming a tale of redemption and the power of forgiveness. Loukas, who now lives in Sebastopol, was so badly hurt, there were doubts he would sur- vive the injuries that put him into a six-week coma, let alone walk again. Backman, the intoxicated driver whose Ford Bronco slammed into Loukas’ compact car before landing on top of it, walked away with little more than scratches. But he was a DAY TO REMEMBER: Steve Backman and Chris Loukas clasp hands last week as they meet to recall the 1995 crash and its aftermath. 20 YEARS LATER Two men whose lives were forever changed in a near-fatal crash near Cotati today share a strong bond By CLARK MASON THE PRESS DEMOCRAT TURN TO FORGIVENESS, PAGE A13 Bank hackers steal millions PALO ALTO — In late 2013, an ATM in Kiev started dispensing cash at seemingly random times of day. No one had put in a card, or touched a button. Cameras showed that the piles of money had been swept up by customers who appeared lucky to be there at the right moment. But when a Russian cyberse- curity firm, Kaspersky Lab, was called to Ukraine to investigate, it discovered that the errant ma- chine was the least of the bank’s problems. The bank’s internal comput- ers, used by employees who pro- cess daily transfers and conduct bookkeeping, had been pene- trated by malware that allowed cybercriminals to record their every move. The malicious soft- ware lurked for months, send- ing back video feeds and imag- es that told a criminal group — including Russians, Chinese and Europeans — how the bank conducted its daily routines, ac- cording to the investigators. Then the group impersonated bank officers, not only turning on various cash machines, but also transferring millions of dollars from banks in Russia, Japan, Switzerland, the United States and the Netherlands into dummy accounts set up in other countries. TURN TO HACKERS, PAGE A12 ONLINE For a video of Steve Backman and Chris Loukas, go to press democrat.com By DAVID E. SANGER and NICOLE PERLROTH NEW YORK TIMES Malware allows members of global gang to mimic employees, transfer funds “He put all of his energy towards me and it changed my life, that compassion from one being to another. That’s the gift.” STEVE BACKMAN, speaking of Chris Loukas, the man badly injured in a car crash caused by Backman in 1995 GOP slams tax credits for immigrants WASHINGTON — Millions of immigrants benefiting from President Barack Obama’s ex- ecutive actions could get a wind- fall from the IRS, a reversal of fortune after years of paying taxes to help fund government programs they were banned from receiving. Armed with new Social Secu- rity numbers, many of these im- migrants who were living in the U.S. illegally will now be able to claim up to four years’ worth of tax credits designed to benefit the working poor. For big fami- lies, that’s a maximum of near- ly $24,000, as long as they can document their earnings during those years. Some Republicans are la- beling the payments “amnes- ty bonuses,” one more reason they oppose Obama’s program shielding millions of immi- grants from deportation. “I represent hard-working, law-abiding Texans,” said Rep. By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER ASSOCIATED PRESS TURN TO TAX, PAGE A14
Transcript of The Power and NICOLE PERLROTH oforgivenessfeeds.pressdemocrat.com/pdf/PD01A021515_120000.pdf ·...
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015 WWW.PRESSDEMOCRAT.COM SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA
SANTA ROSAHigh 77, Low 43THE WEATHER, B14
Business E1Classified E5Cohn C1
Crossword E9Forum T5Lotto A2
Movies D4Obituaries B4Smith B3
State B10Travel D5TV E10
DEADLY DAY IN COPENHAGEN: A shooting at a free speech event and another at a synagogue leaves two dead and five police wounded / A8
©2015 The Press Democrat
CLOVERDALE HOMECOMING
This weekend’s 123-year-old Citrus Fair offers chance for visitors to reconnect with family, friends Empire Sunday
NEW ON-DEMAND RIDE IN TOWN Petaluma limo service app competes with Uber, Lyft Business
The Power of forgiveness
Photos by BETH SCHLANKER / The Press Democrat
LIKE FAMILY: Chris Loukas, left, and Steve Backman met recently in Santa Rosa to remember what they call “the incident” that brought them together: the Jan. 28, 1995, crash in which Backman was driving drunk and Loukas was left fighting for his life. Loukas’ compassion after the accident helped Backman gain sobriety and change his life.
The two men gathered for a potluck with their families and friends in a
Bennett Valley townhome club-house festooned with balloons and ribbons and once again shared the extraordinary story of how they met, two drivers whose cars and lives collided on a rainy night 20 years ago in almost predestined fashion.
The subdued festivity a week ago — the New Age music, a couple of playful toddlers
running around under their mom’s watchful gaze, and through the windows a green land-scape with splashes of
dappled sunlight between rain showers — belied the dark, terrible circumstances that brought Steve Backman and Chris Loukas together.
Backman, 39 at the time, was a bar-hopping, habitual drunken driver, an unemployed construction worker who saw little reason to live.
Loukas, then 64 years old, was the owner of a Sebastopol crystal shop, the embodiment of west county sensibilities — a healer who does “energy balancing” for people and is an ordained minister in the Uni-versal Church of the Master.
The near-fatal crash on High-way 116 near Cotati on Jan. 28, 1995, what the two men would refer to as “the incident … because there are no accidents in life,” forged an unlikely bond between them, becoming a tale of redemption and the power of forgiveness.
Loukas, who now lives in Sebastopol, was so badly hurt, there were doubts he would sur-vive the injuries that put him into a six-week coma, let alone walk again.
Backman, the intoxicated driver whose Ford Bronco slammed into Loukas’ compact car before landing on top of it, walked away with little more than scratches. But he was a
DAY TO REMEMBER: Steve Backman and Chris Loukas clasp hands last week as they meet to recall the 1995 crash and its aftermath.
20 YEARS LATERTwo men whose lives were forever changed in a near-fatal crash near Cotati today share a strong bond
By CLARK MASONTHE PRESS DEMOCRAT
TURN TO FORGIVENESS, PAGE A13
Bank hackers
steal millions
PALO ALTO — In late 2013, an ATM in Kiev started dispensing cash at seemingly random times of day. No one had put in a card, or touched a button. Cameras showed that the piles of money had been swept up by customers who appeared lucky to be there at the right moment.
But when a Russian cyberse-curity firm, Kaspersky Lab, was called to Ukraine to investigate, it discovered that the errant ma-chine was the least of the bank’s problems.
The bank’s internal comput-ers, used by employees who pro-cess daily transfers and conduct bookkeeping, had been pene-trated by malware that allowed cybercriminals to record their every move. The malicious soft-ware lurked for months, send-ing back video feeds and imag-es that told a criminal group — including Russians, Chinese and Europeans — how the bank conducted its daily routines, ac-cording to the investigators.
Then the group impersonated bank officers, not only turning on various cash machines, but also transferring millions of dollars from banks in Russia, Japan, Switzerland, the United States and the Netherlands into dummy accounts set up in other countries.
TURN TO HACKERS, PAGE A12
ONLINEFor a video of Steve Backman and Chris Loukas, go to press democrat.com
By DAVID E. SANGER and NICOLE PERLROTH
NEW YORK TIMES
Malware allows members of global gang to mimic
employees, transfer funds
“He put all of his energy towards me and it changed my life, that compassion from one being to another. That’s the gift.”
STEVE BACKMAN, speaking of Chris Loukas, the man badly injured in a car crash caused by Backman in 1995
GOP slams tax credits for
immigrants
WASHINGTON — Millions of immigrants benefiting from President Barack Obama’s ex-ecutive actions could get a wind-fall from the IRS, a reversal of fortune after years of paying taxes to help fund government programs they were banned from receiving.
Armed with new Social Secu-rity numbers, many of these im-migrants who were living in the U.S. illegally will now be able to claim up to four years’ worth of tax credits designed to benefit the working poor. For big fami-lies, that’s a maximum of near-ly $24,000, as long as they can document their earnings during those years.
Some Republicans are la-beling the payments “amnes-ty bonuses,” one more reason they oppose Obama’s program shielding millions of immi-grants from deportation.
“I represent hard-working, law-abiding Texans,” said Rep.
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHERASSOCIATED PRESS
TURN TO TAX, PAGE A14
